One sided flexible disk recording is typically performed with a read/write (R/W) "button head" penetrated into the plane of the disk and opposed by a pressure pad of soft material. The R/W head and pressure pad are nominally in contact with the flexible disk. Low rotational speed (such as 360 RPM) serve to minimize wear to the contacting surfaces.
Dual side flexible disk recording utilizes recording heads that are generally directly opposed. Usually, one magnetic head slider is fixed normal to the plane of the disk. The opposite slider is typically gimbal mounted to a support arm and is lightly loaded toward the disk and fixed head slider. At low rotational speeds, a nominally contact condition occurs between slider and disk on both sides of the disk. Due to the low speed, the amount of head and disk wear is controlled to an acceptable level. Such an arrangement is described by Tandon, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,573.
For one-sided flexible disk recording, the extension to higher rotational speed (such as 1500 RPM) has been accomplished by Losee and Norton (U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,592). A Bernoulli principle is used to control the disk position relative to a rigid backing plate. The air bearing design consists of a multi-slotted convex (to the disk) head section protruding slightly above the plane of a flat circumferential surface (described by Losee and Norton as a coupler) which itself is penetrated into the plane of the disk. The outer portion of the coupler is beveled to allow control of the disk motion and to minimize wear and impact damage between disk and coupler. The coupler section serves to stabilize and position the disk relative to the slotted convex head section. The slotted head contour produces a very low clearance, nominally non-contact condition, at the magnetic transducer. The Losee and Norton slider patent is not a simple extension of an already existing slider configuration. It has a complicated geometry and requires rather tight geometric tolerancing for manufacture.